Buell Coffee PotTHE DECORATIVE ARTS & ARTIFACTS COLLECTION

In the eighteenth century, wealthy Connecticut River Valley merchants built mansion houses that they filled with elegant furnishings.  Ministers, lawyers, and prosperous farmers sought to emulate their merchant neighborsí sense of style and gentility by purchasing as costly and decorative objects as they could afford.  Less affluent members of society still needed items such as furniture, plates and utensils, though theirs were generally more utilitarian.  Succeeding generations have handed down many of these objects, which provide the basis for the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum collections.

From 1919, when the Colonial Dames first thought about the need to furnish the Webb House, they were determined to collect examples of the best objects used by Connecticut colonists.  With the acquisition of the Stevens and Deane Houses (see elsewhere) the collections policy was expanded to include the early nineteenth century.  Collecting interests expanded again in the 1990s when the Museumís interpretive focus was enlarged to include the twentieth-century Colonial Revival period.  The focus of the collections remains on objects made or used in Connecticut, especially the Connecticut River Valley.  Many artifacts were gifts from members of the Colonial Dames, and many of these descended in the donorsí families.  Consequently the Museum has wonderful examples of textiles and costumes, silver, and ceramics.  Objects associated with the three houses form another significant group.

Highlights of the costume collection include three eighteenth-century Spitalfield silk brocade gowns; Jeremiah Wadsworthís velvet breeches, silk waistcoat, and ruffled shirt; and William Williamís tricorn hat.  Wadsworth families embroideries are a featured part of the textile collection as are embroideries by Sarah Noyes Chester, Elizabeth Bancker Webb, and Betsy Lee Fairchild.  The collection also includes historically important whole-cloth wool quilts, hand-woven sheets and towels, and the linens the Colonial Dames used in the Tea Room.

The Museumís silver collection is small but fine.  Noteworthy examples include a repoussé teapot by Benjamin Hurd of Boston and a coffeepot by Samuel Buell of Middletown.  There is also a nice assemblage of marked Connecticut flatware.  Chinese export wares of the Federal period (1790-1820) and tin glazed earthenwares (1720-1780) form the core of the ceramics collection.  The Chinese porcelain teapot, sugar bowl, and spoon tray that Elizabeth Saltonstall Evards Deane gave her sister Sarah as a wedding present in 1775 are particular treasures.

Other outstanding family artifacts include the Joseph Blackburn portrait of Elizabeth Deane and the portrait of Silas Deane attributed to William Johnson, which were acquired from a collateral descendant.  The Webbs are represented by Sam Webbís miniature portrait, dress sword, and set of ca. 1810 creamware, and Joseph Webbís hunting rifle.  Original Stevens items include an account book, textiles, transfer-printed pearlwares, glassware, and Isaac Stevensí own leather firebuckets.

Many of the above-named objects plus hundreds of others are on permanent display at the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum, while others are exhibited seasonally.  Together they create a feast for the eyes and help to bring the people of the past to life even today.
 

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